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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 25, 2008

Contact: Kim Davey, 800.204.2222 x 1713

State Bar Board Increases Funding to Support
Professionalism and
Public Protection

(GRAPEVINE, TEXAS) — The State Bar of Texas budget for
the upcoming
budget year increases funding to several key areas of
professionalism and public protection. Additional funds are
provided
for the Client Security Fund and Unauthorized Practice of
Law
Committee, as well as a 50 percent increase to the Grievance
Oversight Committee budget. The Client Security Fund
provides
compensation for clients of attorneys who have absconded
with those
clients' funds. The Grievance Oversight Committee is a
committee
appointed by the Supreme Court of Texas and tasked with
looking at
the grievance system and disciplinary process from many
perspectives
to ensure it is efficient, effective, and meeting the needs
of both
the public and the profession. It reports directly to the
Supreme
Court of Texas.

State Bar President-elect Harper Estes of Midland, who
oversaw
development of the budget and began his volunteer bar
service as a
grievance committee member, stressed his commitment to
professionalism and public protection as he approaches being
sworn
in as president in June. In addition to increases to the
Client
Security Fund budget and the Grievance Oversight Committee,
he has
worked closely with the Commission for Lawyer Discipline to
ensure
it has the resources it needs. Current State Bar President
Gib
Walton ordered special review for the need of an additional
attorney
and other resources to answer the ethics helpline, as well
as to
review other avenues for increased commitment to
professionalism,
attorney ethics, and public protection. A "blue ribbon
committee"
has already started this review. The budget approved by the
board of
directors on Friday includes potential funding for this new
ethics
advisor.

"Throughout the budgeting process, our commitment has
been to the
public and profession we serve," said Estes. "The State Bar
has
traditionally looked for meaningful ways to make our
disciplinary
system the best it can be, as well as ways to give lawyers
all the
tools necessary to ensure they are living up to the highest
standards of professionalism."

Commission for Lawyer Discipline Chair Betty Blackwell is
pleased
with the support and cooperation the State Bar Board of
Directors
continues to demonstrate for the disciplinary system. "Our
system of
discipline can only be stronger as the various groups with a
stake
in the system come together and work together," said
Blackwell.
"Many of these issues and ideas have been fleshed out after
a recent
Commission symposium. We are grateful for resources,
projects, and
creative thinking that will make the system work better for
all
involved, that help lawyers stay out of trouble, and that
ultimately
protect the public we serve."

The budget approved by the board will be published in the
March
issue of the Texas Bar Journal. A public hearing of that
budget will
be held in April prior to the State Bar of Texas Board
meeting,
where it will be adopted for submission to the Supreme Court
of
Texas. It will be presented to the Supreme Court of Texas in
May.
The State Bar fiscal year begins June 1.